Arbol prepares for rapid growth with $100K investment from WNY Impact Investment Fund

BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Western New York Impact Investment Fund is proud to announce a $100,000 investment in Arbol, a Buffalo-based startup company tackling the retention issue in higher education.

Arbol is led by co-founders David Gonzalez and Favio Osorio, whose vision for the company was inspired by their own experiences as minority, first-generation college students. They've built a startup that blends edtech and fintech into something truly unique, with tremendous market validation and major growth on the horizon. Arbol is gearing up to launch its software with at least four local colleges this summer, helping to keep thousands of students on track toward graduation.

"Arbol is building a high-growth software business that supports financially vulnerable students as they pursue their dreams," WNY Impact Investment Fund CEO Tom Quinn said. "It's got an extremely talented team and an incredible opportunity in the years ahead."

The $100,000 investment is part of a larger Arbol pre-seed round and will support continued expansion of Arbol's team in Buffalo. The University at Buffalo (UB) invested $250,000 in the round through its Buffalo Innovation Seed Fund, following a previous investment of $100,000 in the company through its Cultivator program. A number of other investors are expected to contribute to the round before it closes this summer.

"Arbol is tackling a serious problem faced by many college students," said Richard Kim, director of Startup Ventures at UB. "We are happy to continue supporting the Arbol team's growth and are excited to see what they achieve going forward."

Despite growing demand for college degrees, the higher education industry is entering into an era of significant disruption, making this a unique moment for innovative technology solutions that solve big problems. Retention is a flashing light, as more than a quarter of U.S. bachelor's degree students don't finish their degree. Each dropout costs colleges an estimated average of $16,000 per year.

Arbol is the first platform to serve both sides of this problem: the students and the colleges.

• The platform gives students a holistic view of their financial situation - from loans to rent to books - while incentivizing healthy financial behavior and giving them access to campus-specific resources.

• Colleges get real-time information that allows them to help individual students and to build more general strategies around the insights that Arbol's data gives them. It's the first tool that gives colleges a proactive summary of their students' financial condition.

Arbol initially plans to target colleges serving low- to middle-income students that are at the greatest risk of dropping out. More than 2 million students are currently enrolled at U.S. colleges that fit that profile.

"This is a dynamic time at Arbol, as we prepare to unveil the first version of our software platform, launch with a growing list of colleges and add new members to our team," said Gonzalez, the CEO. "Favio and I are acutely aware of the interconnection between financial struggle and college performance, and believe we are poised to be a major part of the solution."

Arbol expects to roll out its solution to at least seven local colleges in the Fall semester, and to rapidly expand beyond Western New York's borders in 2024. The company's land-and-expand customer acquisition strategy will allow Arbol to start small on campuses, and then to grow organically into new student populations.

One of Arbol's customer is Buffalo State Foundation, which is pursuing grant funding that will allow it to introduce the Arbol platform to hundreds of incoming students this summer, and then use it to flag students receiving foundation scholarships that are at risk of dropping out due to financial vulnerability. Buffalo State will then proactively address potential issues with those students to keep them in school.

"Arbol's business model provides a unique answer to an age-old problem in our industry," said James Finnerty Sr., Buffalo State vice president for institutional advancement and executive director of the Buffalo State Foundation. "For the first time, colleges can identify vulnerable students before they reach a financial crisis, helping them continue towards their degree and to build a brighter future."

Since late 2017, Western New York Impact Investment Fund has invested $8.9 million in 11 regional organizations. Each deal is considered through an impact investing framework, meaning the commercial upside is weighed equally alongside the potential social impact in Western New York. The fund has raised more than $20 million since its inception to redeploy on behalf of companies in the community, including the recent closure of more than $12 million from new investors.

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ABOUT THE WESTERN NEW YORK IMPACT INVESTMENT FUND: The Western New York Impact Investment Fund is an innovative for-profit investment fund made up of corporate, private, and philanthropic investors. The Fund has been recognized on a national scale for its paradigm-shifting take on investing, with feature articles in the financial press (Forbes) and peer-reviewed academic journals focused on philanthropy (The Foundation Review). The Fund has now raised more than $20 million to support locally based, socially responsible businesses seeking a financial return on their investment. The Fund and its investors have driven quality social impact through investment in local companies during its first five years, helping to create greater opportunity for growth through place-based impact investing in Western New York. For more information, visit https://www.wnyimpact.com.

ABOUT ARBOL: Arbol is a startup technology company focused on improving the dropout rates in the American higher education industry. Arbol's platform borrows from the best of the fintech and ed-tech industries, providing an engaging experience for students to monitor their financial trajectory as they prepare for the future. Arbol also provides colleges with a proactive dashboard that helps them identify individual students who are at risk of dropping out and steering them toward a brighter future.

Contact: Tom Quinn

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 716.464.3069